20 fish farms being established in Nangarhar

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): The Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Department on Tuesday inaugurated work on establishing 20 warm-water fish breeding farms for the first time in eastern Nangarhar province.

The farms are being set up in Behsud district with funds from the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL)’s development budget.

Officials expressed the hope that the farms would meet the need of residents in Nangarhar and as well nearby provinces.

Nangarhar governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal, at the inauguration ceremony of the project, said the farms offering fishes to the market would also create jobs for dozens of people in the first place and for thousands others later on.  

He said MAIL would first construct 20 water pools worth six million afghanis for farmers to raise fishes. Mangal said the Nangarhar agriculture department would technically support the farms owners for the next 18 months.

The governor said many fishes imported from abroad had various kinds of diseases, but these farms would produce fresh fish meat.

The Nangarhar agriculture department head, Rafiullah Rahimzai, said it was for the first time that warm-water aquaculture pilot project was launched in Nangarhar and it would be extended to other provinces later.

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